Publicis London lip-synchs holiday greeting
It is a bold agency that does a lip-synch video for its holiday card. Publicis London is just such a courageous shop. It shot a video of staffers lip-synching to "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. The results are mixed. I'm sure plenty of people will see it as self-indulgent amateurish crap. The cringe factor can get pretty high at times. On the other hand, it sure beats those e-cards many shops send. —Posted by Brian Morrissey
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Published on December 14, 2009 | Permalink
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Simian shoppers love Banana Nut Cheerios
Supermarket + guy in a gorilla suit + Banana Nut Cheerios = blah. This Publicis Modem spot aims to be goofy and outrageous, but it's mostly just dull. The background muzak doesn't help. It sounds like the stuff they played in grocery stores when I was a kid about 1,000 years ago. Today, we're tortured by classic rock and '60s pop. Surely the Monkees theme can't be that costly to use in ads. Look, the ape-costume bar has been set quite high since Cadbury's drumming gorilla. This simian has better manners than most grocery shoppers. How about a rampage in the aisles, with mini-Kong carrying a checkout gal to the pinnacle of a package display, clerks rushing to her aid with pricing guns? Letting the ape go bananas would've heightened his appeal. —Posted by David Gianatasio
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Published on November 9, 2009 | Permalink
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Maytag cleans you up after the giant waffles
What were the chances of Maytag producing an entertaining ad with personality-impaired "repairman" Clay Jackson? I'd have said zero, but the appliance maker proves me wrong with this obstacle course spot by Publicis. Sure, it's derivative, but it's also about as fun as Maytag gets these days. According to press materials, they used 2,000 gallons of orange soda, 350 jars of raspberry jam and 420 jars of peanut butter to "challenge" the seven kids in the white jumpsuits. The giant waffles drenched in 350 bottles of maple syrup are the real stars. Check out those huge pats of butter! Fork over some forks and dig in! The whole thing has a Willy Wonka/H.R. Pufnstuf vibe, and the killjoy repairman stays mainly in the background. Too bad he didn't slip into the soda pool and vanish down the drain. See also: |
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Published on September 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Be ultra-pervy with Omax wide-angle lensesThe advantage of Omax wide-angle camera lenses, according to these new print ads from Publicis India, is that guys can snap photos of hot girls without alerting them. This is great news for the stalker market, though less great news for the women involved, judging by their reaction on the comments thread over at Gizmodo. It may be worth noting that women can use the Omax lens to discreetly ogle men, too. Fair's fair. And they should. No sense in letting all my nude rooftop sunbathing go undocumented. UPDATE: Adland points out that Leica has done almost identical ads for their own wide-angle lenses. —Posted by David Kiefaber See also: |
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Published on August 12, 2009 | Permalink
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Horndogs hit on Zeta-Jones in T-Mobile ads
I know I shouldn't encourage the "Husbands are ugly imbeciles" ad cliché, but I laugh at the T-Mobile spot above every time I hear the guy tell Catherine Zeta-Jones, "I like it when you say things." The ad, by Publicis in Seattle, is part of a new strategy by the carrier of basically just showing horny guys drooling all over the actress. In the spot below, it's a geeky teen who puts the moves on her. It's not the most chivalrous way to welcome the woman back after her three-year hiatus from T-Mobile advertising. Then again, she can probably handle any creepy conversation, considering she married a codger whose pickup line was, "I'd like to father your children."
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Published on August 5, 2009 | Permalink
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It's always clear skies with Malibu rum radio
DJ Bernhard and MC Wonder Full are having way too much laid-back, Caribbean-style fun in Malibu rum's tongue-twisting "Radio MaliBoom Boom" campaign by Publicis in London. The multifaceted push features a real Barbados-based Internet-radio station starring the DJs and all manner of social-media outreach. In this spot, Bernhard forecasts sunny weather throughout the world, even where it's raining or nighttime, explaining that he's not overly concerned with "details." I guess that counts as truth in advertising, because after a few Malibus, people do tend to let life's finer points slide. They might even say stuff like "Gimme another MaliBoom Boom" when ordering the next round. MC Wonder Full seems a bit confused. He says they work for "a non-commercial radio station." Excuse me, but unless I'm missing something, isn't the whole thing one big ad? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on August 5, 2009 | Permalink
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Cross that human flesh off your grocery list
"If you pay a prostitute, you're financing human trading." So says this effort from the Luxembourg government via Mikado Publicis. The point is literally true, of course, but the deeper implications of such commerce are driven home by wrapping the images of models inside food packages (and placing them in the butcher sections of actual stores), reducing the women, in the vernacular of the street, to nothing more than pieces of meat. It's a strong if unoriginal visual device, and the cause is certainly just. That said, the approach seems borderline kinky, almost fetishistic, and one wonders if it doesn't serve to further objectify and commoditize its subjects. Packaged thusly, one imagines some consumers responding glibly, "I'll take it!" —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on June 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Good and evil drawn equally to the Kia Soul
Publicis Toronto and director Mark Gilbert of Untitled Films invite consumers to "Peer into a Soul" in some self-consciously quirky new spots for the Kia Soul compact SUV. Before rolling out the full ads, the agency aired these short teasers first, and I can see why they drove traffic to the automaker's Web site. The clips are tense, mysterious and heart pounding—they play out like snippets from a Joss Whedon series or hot new genre film. Alas, the full-length commercials are basically one-joke affairs. See all three of them here. In each one, the characters find the Soul so distracting, they drop whatever they happen to be doing at the time, no matter how urgent (like saving a friend who's fallen down a well) or nefarious (transporting a victim to a mob hit or stalking some babes at an isolated cabin). I've got two other complaints. First, it's an ugly car—it's not gonna turn that many heads. Also: Why would I buy an SUV that's a magnet for homicidal maniacs? —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on February 9, 2009 | Permalink
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Cities made of beer only good in moderation
"For a fresher world" is the (unintentionally) ironic tagline of this Heineken campaign from Publicis Conseil in France, which transforms world-class cities using beer bottles, cans and cases to represent skylines and landmarks. See all three ads here. The decision to replace the Rio statue of Christ with a giant corkscrew seems straight out of some post-punk art exhibition, the kind the Catholic Church is always quick to protest. Atheists can take offense at the Statue of Liberty receiving similar treatment. Worst of all is the eerie hue—I think it's supposed to be Heineken-bottle green, but it just makes me think of urine. The enterprise suggests not freshness but the kind of unhealthy, beer-fueled visions you might see after chugging one too many. Via Ads of the World. —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on December 19, 2008 | Permalink
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United Way proves to be a terrific exfoliant
Publicis in Toronto has produced a few notable new spots for the United Way. "Youth" and "Homelessness" both show people in desperate straits literally shedding their skin to start anew. The voiceover at the end isn't really necessary because the visuals are so strong. Nonetheless, the reminder that contributions to the charity provide "a way out" of hopelessness is on point and syncs up nicely with the imagery. So, perhaps a few dollars will find a way out of your wallet and into the UW coffers so you can carve up that Turkey Day bird with a little less guilt, OK? Sean Cochrane directed; Crush provided the effects. |
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Published on November 24, 2008 | Permalink
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Humans with big cat heads invade Australia
Advertising's embrace of human beings with giant cat heads, which originated in Holland, has moved to Australia via this new Toyota Corolla work from Publicis Mojo in Sydney. According to the agency, the campaign "tells the story of a kitten headed hero who battles a gang of feral baddies" in an abandoned shopping mall, then scoots away in his sporty Corolla. "The ambitious production was a combination of very well rehearsed fighting sequences, and real, cuddly kitten heads." The campaign will play out online with an animated graphic novel in three pun-heavy parts: "9 Lives and Counting," "Landing on All Fours" and "The Sound and the Furry." |
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Published on November 7, 2008 | Permalink
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